


Tikka Chance on Me

by Mixedia



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Swan family life, Domestic Fluff, Emma learning how to cook, Established Relationship, First Time, Happy Captain Swan, Husband Hook, I just needed some fluff in my life ok?, One Shot, Post-Season/Series 06, Romantic Comedy, This is apparently what I think of when cooking curry from scratch for my husband, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wife Emma, green Hook, one shot drabble, post Final Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 06:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12205563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mixedia/pseuds/Mixedia
Summary: Emma gets adventurous with her cooking and Hook has a new first time to try...





	Tikka Chance on Me

It had taken about 6 weeks for Emma Swan to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. The morning after they had finally defeated the Black Fairy and won the Final Battle, she kept waiting for the next enemy to appear, the next big bad to state their threats to her or her family, the next crisis to bring Storybrooke to its knees and cause a town full of people to cry out for her to step up and be the saviour yet again. But nothing had happened. In fact, the most exciting thing that had happened since then was the time Ashley Boyd had accidentally left her kitchen door open while cooking and little Alexandra had gone missing for a few hours, only to turn up safe and sound but fast asleep under one of the tables outside Granny's diner.

With her parents, David and Mary Margaret Nolan, living in their farm house just outside of town with her younger brother, Neal, she had easily fallen into being the lone Sheriff once again, a job made even more enjoyable with her pirate husband, Killian Jones, taking on the role of Deputy and a few of the other residents being employed as officers for when the couple made their way home at the end of the day. She could barely believe her life now included a steady 9-5 job, working with her husband before heading back to her beautiful house, ready to receive her son, Henry, on the nights he stayed with her or to spend evenings relaxing on the days he was staying either with her parents or his other mother, Regina Mills.

It made for an easy routine, with evenings filled with the sounds of her two favourite men in the world working on Henry's homework while she slowly but surely taught herself to cook for a full family after a lifetime of cooking meals for one. On Saturdays, the Jones and the Nolans took turns hosting for a huge family dinner, the hosts cooking and providing food while the guests took over cleaning after, and tonight, Emma was feeling particularly adventurous.

So far, she had stuck to fairly simple recipes, proudly producing Mac and Cheese that did NOT come from a box, Tacos on the days she wanted to remind Henry of the good things in life when she could see the stress of exams slumping his shoulders a little more than she would like to see, easy fish dishes when she was buttering her husband up for various things like wanting money for a new pair of shoes or to say thank you to him for taking on more household chores that week, and her most complicated dish, a full roast dinner on the days she knew Mary Margaret had had a trying week teaching the next generation of Storeybrooke children at the one and only primary school.

But today, she noticed a few interesting ingredients on best-before-day sales, a smug smirk pulling at her lips when she realised they were also items she had extra coupons for. The recipe she had in mind was in one of her more complicated cook books, meaning the dinner had the potential to go very horribly wrong, but it had been a while since she had tried something new, so she grabbed everything she needed and strode quickly over to the counter, paying for her items before she bottled out and put everything back.

* * * * *

Killian Jones sat back on his heels, dusted his hand off on his dark wash jeans and smiled to himself. With the peace that had befallen his new home town in the last few weeks, he had found he craved the fresh air outside like never before. With the town line so close to the harbour, he couldn't really take his ship, the Jolly Roger, out very far and so hardly felt it worthwhile to go sailing, and anyway, it was the air he was after, not necessarily the gentle motion of his girl beneath his feet, although that would add to the delight. So rather than bother, he had taken up looking after the little garden that had come with his and his wife's dream home. He smiled, remembering the first time he had mentioned to Emma that he had been spending some time in the shed, ignoring the fact that had been a ruse to hide the fact he had secreted the fate shears away there, ready to use them to save her life against her own wishes, instead focusing on the glint in her eye as she joked about him having a 'Green Hook' and how he had come to the point he could prove this to be true.

Standing up from the flowerbed he had just been working on, he wandered over to the same shed to stash away his tools, waving merrily as Emma's bright yellow VW bug rolled confidently onto their driveway and his beautiful swan emerged, her golden hair spilling from the messy top-knot she had thrown it into this morning, the red leather of her favourite jacket gleaming in the afternoon sun as she popped the trunk and pulled out a brown paper bag of food, using her hip to shut the car back up again before disappearing into the house.

Killian sighed a contented sigh as he stashed his tools away, taking a watering can and filling it from the water-butt in their garden and going round, giving all his flowers, vegetables and plants a good long drink. He finished up one or two further jobs as the Nolan car pulled up at the side of the road, spilling their family out onto the side walk and his face broke into a huge grin as he watched his tiny brother-in-law, Neal Nolan, take a tentative few steps as soon as his mother deposited him onto the driveway. He gave a loud cheer, gaining a booming laugh from David, a merry chuckle from Mary Margaret and a squeal of delight from the newly walking Neal, who took a few more steps a little too fast in his excitement and promptly face planted the grassy lawn. The adults froze in shock for a second, waiting to see how the little man would react, but as his face rose and he once again burst into a joyful squeal, all 3 adults breathed a heavy sigh of relief and Killian raced forward, sweeping the child into his right arm, being careful to keep his hooked left out of the way, blurting a raspberry on the exposed creamy belly of Neal as he lead them all into the house.

Mary Margaret and David peeled off to greet their daughter in the kitchen as Killian plopped Neal onto his older nephew's lap, who tossed the book he had been reading moments before onto the seat next to him so he could begin a tickle fight with his baby Uncle.

"I'm going to wash up, love, down in a few." He called into the kitchen, the three in there essentially ignoring him, apart from Emma who threw a thumbs up in his direction to show she had heard him. Bounding up the stairs two at a time, he locked himself in the bathroom to rid his hand, hook and other body parts of the dirt and sweat he had accumulated there while in the garden. 

Emerging some 15 minutes later, freshly clothed and smelling of his favourite cologne and beard oil, he stopped abruptly at the top of the stairs, sucking a lungful of air through his nostrils causing curiosity to go rushing through his veins at the scent that greeted him. Ignoring the chattering from his in-laws and step-son in the living room, he followed his nose to the kitchen where his Swan was stationed before the cooker, stirring a huge pan of the smelly-something.

"What on Earth is that you're cooking, love?" He asked, coming up behind her and resting hand and hook on her hips even as he leant over her shoulder to take another whiff of the pot of scent.

* * * * *

"It's Madras." Emma told Hook, peering at him over her shoulder and admiring the way his shoulders filled out the black button-down shirt he was wearing, smirking when she saw that the top 3 buttons were undone to allow a hint of black curls to peek out of the top. "Mmm you smell nice." She complimented, taking her fill of masculine body wash, deodorant and beard products, flicking her gaze back up to find his bright blue irises firmly fixed on her, one black brow raised almost to his hairline.

"And you smell like whatever this is..." He informed her, sniffing her hair and the back to the pot once again. "What is Mad-ras, anyway?" He asked, putting so much emphasis on the 'mad' that she had to giggle.  
"Madras is an Indian dish." She explained. Suddenly, a thought formed in her mind and she couldn't help but wonder whether the Enchanted Forest had ever encountered cuisine such as Indian before. She supposed most of Storeybrooke would know what it was by now, being that the curse the town had been under never ceased to amaze her in its complexity, but Hook had never actually been part of that curse and was slowly learning his way around the modern world of the land-without-magic.

Taking a large tablespoon from the drawer next to her, she dipped it into the sauce and gathered a large serving, blowing on it to cool it a little, then turning in the circle of Hook's arms to present the food to him, her hand under the spoon to catch any stray drips that may attempt escape. She stifled the giggle that threatened to bubble up over the suspicious but curious frown on her husband's brow, moving the spoon a little closer to his mouth until he finally wrapped his lips around the bowl of the spoon and allowed the liquid to fill the space. She smiled to him as she pulled the spoon back, dropping it to the counter behind her and watching the expressions on his face flash past in fascination.

It took a few seconds for anything to register, but when it finally did the tomatoey, onioney flavour created a look of delighted surprise to widen his eyes and his lips to curl up in a smile, his head nodding to show his appreciation for the new taste he was experiencing. But as she watched his throat flex for a second as the sauce was passed down his gullet, his eyes changed imperceptibly from delight, to mild horror as the spices finally registered on his taste buds.

"Emma, what..." He started to say, his breath gusting over her face and the spicy smell making her cough a little. But his hand and hook disappeared from her hips, he took a step back and gasped in a deep breath. Emma watched as red began creeping up from his chest over the strained muscles of his neck and into his cheeks, her amusement growing as his hand began to flap at his side and his eyes squeezed shut in agony. "... what the bloody hell was THAT?!" He cried, opening his mouth and letting his tongue dangle free in a way that would have been far more obscene if he hadn't already swallowed the mouth of sauce. Emma was soon barking laughter as she watched beads of sweat appear on his forehead and tears prick the corners of his eyes.

The commotion obviously disturbed the inhabitants of the living room, who came running into the kitchen, Henry leading followed by David and Mary Margaret, to find Emma nearly doubled over from laughter and Hook dancing round the kitchen, tongue wagging freely, tears streaming down his cheeks and his hand waving madly before his face.

"Mom, what happened?" Henry asked, watching his step-father's progress in circles round the kitchen as Emma straightened up and wiped her fingers under her eyes.  
"I don't think... I don't think Killian has ever had spicy food before... and I haven't added the coconut milk to cool the curry down yet!" she guffawed, doubling up once again as Hook accidentally bashed into a chair while still dancing round.

Henry and David immediately joined in her laughter, the kitchen full of the roaring of the men, Emma's merciless howling and Mary Margaret's sympathetic titters as she grabbed a glass and filled it with water. Handing it over to Hook, she didn't say a word as he accepted it gratefully, gulped the whole thing down in one go and stood finally still in relief as the coolness of the fluid washed over his flaming tongue. Opening his eyes for the first time, he couldn't help but notice all 4 of the other adults watching him as though waiting for something to happen.

"What?" He asked them, placing the glass carefully down on the counter top, then turning back to face the room and eventually realising what they were all waiting for. "Oh Gods! why is it coming back hotter?!" He screamed, turning eyes full of betrayal on Mary Margaret.  
"I'm so sorry!" She cackled evilly, "I just couldn't resist!"

And with that the room once again descended into mocking laughter as Killian stood trying to find any way of breathing that did not cause this spice-filled breath to flow over his tongue, adding to the scorching torture already residing there. It was a whole 3 minutes before Emma relented, reaching round him for his discarded water glass and filling it with milk from the fridge. He wanted to be more wary, to make her promise that once he drank this glass, it would not simply cause him half a second of respite before making the spice return twice as hot but at this point, even half a second would be better than nothing. So without another thought, he poured the whole thing down his throat.

The comfort was instantaneous, the creamy texture of the milk seeming to cascade over every taste bud, pulling the pain away and replacing it with a smooth, cool balm like feeling that faded to leave the original delicious taste of the curry from before it had started hurting. Smacking his lips together in appreciation, he turned to the room and declared "Well, that aftertaste is sublime, why couldn't they make THAT into a dinner instead of that fire-of-hell nonsense?"

Stepping over to him, Emma rested both hands on either side of his face and nuzzled her nose against his. "That aftertaste is what I'm making. You just tasted what it's like before I add the final ingredient - coconut milk." She giggled, kissing him hard on the lips then turning back to the stove and dumping an entire can of milky substance into the pan.  
"The rice and naan bread should help too." Henry explained, pointing to the lumps of bread in the oven, smiling and patting his step father on the arm.

It took a fair few minutes of coaxing and cajoling, plus a whispered promise of bedroom delights before Hook had the courage to try the finished product, but he soon declared it to be one of his favourite meals, much to the amusement of everyone.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for the horrendous title, I had no idea what to call this and when I typed in "Curry songs" into Google, it was a toss up between this or "Tears in my Pilau" which sounds way too depressing for what I'm going for here. I tried really hard to make this amusing! I was just thinking that other than Agrabah, we haven't really had any indication that the Enchanted Forest had anything but the most basic of foods, so I kind of imagined the surprise Hook would have felt when he tried Indian food for the first time. I reckon he probably would end up being one of those crazy people who orders the hottest curry you possibly can when eating out, but the first time could very well have gone something like this. I don't know, it's a one off that makes my heart happy.


End file.
